Global File System

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What Does Global File System Mean?

A global file system (GFS), in computer science, is cluster of files that are shared between a number of computers and end systems from which data or services are accessed, stored and fetched. The computer systems may be physically distant or may be a part of same network.

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Techopedia Explains Global File System

GFS is especially useful when the physical location of two or more computers are located in distant locations and they cannot directly share a file or group of files. A global file system saves the changes made by one system and displays the changes on all the systems sharing it. It is the same as a distributed file system, except that the nodes have direct access to the data. A GFS reads and writes to the remote device, similarly to a local file system, and also permits the computers to organize their I/O to preserve file system uniformity.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.